Best Upgrade for Your Bike: Hand-Built Wheels
Assuming that you are starting with a decent bike, investing in a set of hand-built wheels may be the best bang for the buck in terms of improving the performance and durability of your bike, and the quality of the ride. (What is a decent bike? This post talks about hybrid bikes, but the general principles will apply to any bike.)
The vast majority of bicycle wheels across a broad range of prices are factory-built with stock components. Though premium wheels generally feature higher quality components, factory-built wheels —regardless of price— offer no consideration for how and by whom the wheel will be used.
In contrast, specialty hand-built wheels are tailor-made for the specific rider and his or her individual cycling needs. A custom-built wheel utilizing mid-range components may actually be more economical, while providing better riding characteristics and longevity compared to a more premium off-the-shelf wheel.
Hand-built wheels can benefit all riders, not just racers or other elite cyclists. In fact, urban commuters, long distance tourists, or any rider who must have a dependable bike can benefit from the advantages hand built wheels.
Our mechanics at Cosmic Bikes have created beautiful, durable wheel sets for commuters and touring cyclists looking for an optimal combination of weight and durability. We’ve built heavy-duty wheels for people of stature, tandem riders and others who put their bike through heavy use and are tired of broken spokes and bent rims.
We’ve built specialty wheels for more unusual bikes, such as recumbent bikes and trikes, and tiny 16” custom wheels for Brompton folding bikes, as well as bombproof wheels for riders heading out on self-supported treks or adventures.
Custom wheels allow you to incorporate features not typically found on stock wheels, including generator hubs to power lights, internally geared hubs, or e-assist wheel motors, which require special handling and heavy-duty spokes to stand up to the forces a motor can generate.
For all those situations —and more— hand-built wheels are a beautiful, functional and durable solution that will serve your needs for many years.
What exactly makes a hand-built wheel so much better? It’s the combination of listening to the customer, and responding with well-considered component selection, followed by patiently applying carefully honed skills without cutting corners. The process of building a single wheel consists of careful prep, then many hundreds of tiny, precise adjustments using carefully calibrated measuring tools. We have a few proprietary tricks up our sleeve to make sure the wheel stays true and tight when we hand it off to you, and you put it to the test under real-world riding conditions.
The satisfaction of riding on a well-crafted hand-built wheel can be compared to playing a finely tuned musical instrument. In addition to being a joy to ride, hand built wheels will give you many years of dependable (and serviceable) performance.